Upcoming Events

SOCORRO, N.M. April 10, 2012 – The inaugural Student Research Symposium at New Mexico Tech features a wide range of innovative projects, including 24 posters and 15 oral presentations.

The event is all day in the third floor ballrooms of the Fidel Center on Friday, April 13. The poster session is from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Oral presentations are from noon to 4:30 p.m.

“This is incredibly exciting for our first event,” organizer Dr. Mary Dezember said. “We didn’t know what to expect. This is a tremendous response from every department – both undergraduates and graduates.”

Student Elizabeth Barteau, a double major in technical communication and civil engineering, is assisting Dezember with the Symposium.

She said, “This high level of participation shows the investment Tech students have in their research and design and in the future of their fields."

Dr. Peter Gerity, Vice President of Academic Affairs, said “I am delighted to see the overwhelming response to this initiative. Not only is this engaging New Mexico Tech students in critical areas of science and engineering research, but it has also attracted interest from more than 50 high school students from around the state who will also be attending the event. This project was proposed as a part of our new accreditation process and has already achieved much more than our earliest visions and expectations. I plan to participate as a reviewer and intend to visit each of the projects during the day of the event.”

The event proposed to students that they present their research and design projects for a multi-disciplinary audience. The presentations are supposed to be accessible and understandable to the wider Tech audience, not just experts in the respective fields, Dezember said.

“This event is such a great fit for New Mexico Tech,” Dezember said. “Tech students are doing amazing work and this Symposium will shine a spotlight on some of the ambitious and innovative work that is going on in our labs and classrooms.”

Faculty, staff, alumni and graduate students will review each project, providing feedback on presentation skills and quality of work. The Symposium is non-competitive, so the feedback is to support and guide students.

All who attend the event will be asked to provide anonymous feedback via iClickers for oral presentations and QR Codes for poster presentations, regarding whether each presentation – both oral and poster – is understandable. Again, that feedback will only be available to the presenters.

“A goal of this event is to help students improve their communication skills, which is a crucial skill for success in the work place,” Dezember said. “Our twofold goal is to improve communication and foster community.”